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6 dead, 8 missing due to heavy rain, mudslides in Japan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-21 20:52

TOKYO: Six people died Tuesday and eight others remain missing in Yamaguchi and Tottori prefectures in western Japan after heavy train triggered mudslides and swelled rivers, Kyodo News reported.

In Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, three people died, one person was injured and four others are still missing at a nursing home for the elderly after a mudslide hit shortly after noon.

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Rescue workers from the police, firefighters and the Self- Defense Forces are searching for the missing people.

The Yamaguchi prefectural government had asked the SDF to dispatch a rescue unit to the nursing home housing around 90 elderly people.

The first floor of the facility was buried under mud, and rescue workers were trying to reach people at the home from its roof by helicopter.

In addition, a woman died after her home near a national road was also hit by a mudslide, and a man was found dead after being carried away by a swollen river.

Another man was also confirmed dead after being swept away by a swollen river in Kofu, Tottori Prefecture.

Aside from the four people missing at the nursing home, four others are missing in Hofu and Mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Around 15 to 40 people were stranded in each of at least three communities in the cities of Hofu and Yamaguchi due to the heavy rain, Kyodo said.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Hofu saw a record 70.5 millimeters of rainfall in an hour on Tuesday. Two other locations in the prefecture also saw a record amount of rainfall per hour.

The central government has set up a taskforce to gather information on the mudslides.